Neither side has a lot of u it’s, but the US does have numbers. The Germans had set up a blocking position on the road with their armored cars in the center. The US started pushing the center and then pushed in strength to their left. The Germans tried to re-orient, but the US had too much firepower and they were unable to stop the US in exiting in numbers that gave them the win.

This is an 8 (eight) turn scenario. The Americans are charged with the responsibility to cross the board in 8 turns against what is most likely a very hidden group of German recon troops. The Americans are also a recon group and have the usual mix of M8s, M5s, Scotts and mounted infantry. While Panzer Lehr has a similar mix they do have substantially better AT guns with the Puma AC. Hidden as it is this can do some serious damage.

Panzer Lehr had mined the road thus pushing the Americans off road. My Americans entered carefully watching for hidden Germans in the fields or hills. They veered east which countered the German plan and forced some movement of the forward troops (INF and APC). The Stuarts then veered back across the road as the M8s rushed for the center to flush the Germans. One M8 was lost to the Puma which, having fired was now targeted by the Stuarts. The remaining M8s exited the board.

Unfortunately, at that point the American commander (me) got too caught up in the battle and lost count of the scenario. Before I knew it turn 8 was upon me and the Americans, while clearly in position to hammer the Germans, were nowhere near getting off the board. This was a clear German victory and one which bears playing again. The lesson is, of course, to remember your objective and plan your actions to accomplish the goal, as opposed to beating the heck out of the other guy.

The hidden German units are critical to playing this scenario. There was much discussion when these came out about the fact that all the scenarios use hidden units. While this slightly inhibits playing solo I find that I have played enough hidden unit scenarios ftf to understand the "flushing" nature of the maneuvering and can enjoy these scenarios with the units "hidden". This is a very competitive scenario and one which could be fun either ftf or solo. I give it a "4".

I was commanding the Panzer Lehr in this nice little scenario. All my units started hidden : a real joy when playing face to face ! The US player chose to drop all the infantry and M3 halftracks : he kept them off the game because too vulnerable to defensive fire and any left over US unit on the board, at the end of the game, is considered eliminated. It was quite a close affair : in such a small scenario some dice rolling are really critical ! Hidden units were holding panzerfausts and one US vehicle paid the price. But when one of his stuart platoons came in range of my Puma and got the initiative on the next turn, I was happy to see him missing me with both shots. My back firing went right through the Stuart thin armor plates ! However his armored cars were too fast to be caught and he was at the edge of exiting them both forcing a draw if he did. It began to be a real race : all my halftracks pursued the US armored cars... And then these armored cars tried to get a few more points by shooting at the German vehicles, before exiting. Again : two misses ! I only had to finish the job : one more US armored car went down and another was disrupted due to infantry fire (X on direct fire and Morale check failed). Major German victory. Real fun. Only point down is the maps : this is not Normandy at all !!! They use Eastern front maps in a bocage country south of St-Lo ! Map 13 from Airborne would have been perfect (without the swamps).